The Foreign Office is investigating reports that three British men are being held in Afghanistan on suspicion of having fought with the Taleban and al-Qaeda terror network.

The three are said to have told the International Red Cross they are British.

The Times newspaper says a Red Cross official visited the men, all of Pakistani origin, in Shibergan prison near Mazar-e-Sharif in northern Afghanistan.

Shibergan jail holds about 3,000 prisoners

They are said to have been captured by Northern Alliance troops commanded by General Abdul Rashid Dostum, who is now deputy defence minister in the interim Afghan Government.

A UK Foreign Office spokeswoman refused to reveal the men's names but said efforts were underway to obtain more details about their identities.

The Shibergan prison is believed to hold about 3,000 prisoners.

Some of the foreign captives from the jail have been transferred to the American detention centre at Khandahar airfield in the south, the Times says.

London links

Muslim leaders in Britain have warned that extremists are targeting impressionable young men at UK mosques.

The possibility of British links with Osama Bin Laden's al-Qaeda networks was again raised on Saturday after a south London address was reportedly found on a leaflet discovered in a terror training camp.

The Guardian reports that a council flat address in Brixton was discovered on the back page of a weapons instruction manual left in an al-Qaeda camp.

The war on terror since the 11 September attacks has also revealed other possible links with the UK.

The FBI is investigating whether Briton Richard Reid, who tried to blow up a transatlantic flight with explosives hidden in his shoe, had any contact with fighters from al-Qaeda.

Frenchman Zacarias Moussaoui - the only person so far charged in connection with the 11 September terror attacks in the US - is known to have worshipped at a mosque in south London.

Last month the Foreign Office started investigations into reports that a Briton was being held in Pakistan for having suspected al-Qaeda links.

James Alexander McLintock, 37, originally from Dundee, is reported to be under interrogation after being arrested near Afghanistan's border with Pakistan.